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Charles Swindoll: A grown-up Christian displays wisdom, self-discipline and commitment to a consistent walk with Christ. He or she is determined to obey God regardless of the cost and to seek regular nourishment from His Word. Also, a mature Christian strives to reach out and care for others whether they be friend or foe. Such an individual willingly shoulders his or her responsibilities with a contagiously positive attitude. That’s what a mature, grown-up Christian is.

Let’s read what Paul says about the importance of growing up &becoming a mature believer.

This is the big picture, and then he later narrows the focus to us individually.

Ephesians 4:1 – Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.

Look at the word calling.

Do you realize that you have a calling?

If you are a believer, you have a calling from God.

To believe this maynecessitate a paradigm shift in your thinking.

Many believe the misconception that there are 2 classes of people in the Christian Faith:

The Full Time Clergy

The Rank and File Believer

The 1st group is the really important ones and the 2nd group is the scrubs on the bench.

But, if you are going to grow to maturity, youhave to see yourself correctly.

We look at somebody like Billy Graham or Mother Theresa and say, “That’s a $5,000 Christian.”

And we look at a person living on the streets, and we say, “That is a $2 person. I’m better than them.”

We start assigning values and that’s wrong.

God values all of us the same.

Another person is not our standard.

Jesus is!

And, regardless of what your call is or your place in the church, He values you the same.

2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

1 Corinthians 12:14-18 – Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, "I am not part of the body because I am not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? 18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it.

Let’s go back to Ephesians and see how Paul breaks it down from 1 body.

Ephesians 4:7-8 – However, He has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say, "When He ascended to the heights, He led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to His people."

Even though there is one Body, it has many parts.

Oneness in Christ doesn’t mean your individuality is lost.

The Holy Spirit has given each of us special gifts for building up the church—to make the body healthy.

You are uniquely made and endowed with certain gifts that need to be used for the glory of God.

The pastor isequipping me to fulfill my call to serve others and build up the body.

The spirit of this verse is that the path to maturity is through serving &doing our part.

The focus is not on you but on serving.

13 spiritual maturity and growth as well.This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

This will continue until . . . indicates that the equipping process will continue until a certain end is achieved—unity & maturity.

Think of it this way: the Body (the church) must match the Head (Jesus) in growth and maturity.

Otherwise you will have an abnormal body.

A big, adult sized head on a toddler’s body.

Where spiritual maturity and growth as well.are you in your spiritual development?

Mature won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truthbelievers know the Word of God and are not easily influenced by deception.